The Portland Trail Blazers pulled off the first stunner of NBA free agency, acquiring Ja Morant from the Memphis Grizzlies. The Blazers will presumably have to purge a now-loaded backcourt, which could make Shaedon Sharpe available if the Chicago Bulls need a cheaper alternative to Peyton Watson.
Portland sent a pair of swingmen, Jerami Grant and Kris Murray, to Memphis, which gives new head coach Micah Nori five rotation-caliber guards: Damian Lillard, Scoot Henderson, Jrue Holiday, Morant and Sharpe.
It's an awkward mashup of young players and vets that surely won't be together when the 2026-27 season tips off. (Right?)
That logjam could give the Bulls — who should be in hot pursuit of Watson — an intriguing fallback option if they can't push a deal through.
Blazers' Ja Morant trade could make Shaedon Sharpe available to Bulls
The out-of-nowhere Morant blockbuster will have ripple effects across the league that will hit several teams, the Bulls among them, should they register an interest in Sharpe.
The 23-year-old is a bouncy, athletic shooting guard with natural scoring gifts. He's upped his scoring average every season since entering the league as the No. 7 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
He averaged 20.8 points on 45.2 percent shooting from the field last year, to go along with 4.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists. He helped a Portland team overachieve all the way into the first round of the playoffs — under now-Bulls head coach Tiago Splitter.
Sharpe has four NBA seasons under his belt, but still plenty of room to grow. He entered the NBA at 19 after enrolling at Kentucky as his class's No. 1 recruit but never playing a game for the Wildcats. He just turned 23 a month ago.
Peyton Watson should still be a top priority for Bulls
Sharpe is not Watson; the Denver Nuggets swingman is one of the league's premier emerging 3-and-D wings. He averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.0 stocks (steals plus blocks) while shooting 41.1 percent from 3-point range in a breakout 2025-26 campaign.
It will cost Chicago a pretty penny to pry him out of Denver, however, given the former UCLA standout's status as a restricted free agent. The Nuggets are already looking for ways to create cap space to hold onto him.
Sharpe, on the other hand, just signed a four-year, $90 million contract that runs through 2029-30.
Both players are 23 and on ascending trajectories. It may not be the deciding factor, but Splitter and Sharpe do have a history, which counts for something.
After taking a massive swing on Morant, the Trail Blazers have guards to spare. And if the Bulls can't sign Watson, they'll have a void Sharpe could fill.
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